About Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins was at the forefront of Realist painters who shifted the focus of American art from landscape to the figural subjects favored by the European academies in the 19th century. Working in oil, watercolor, sculpture and photography, Eakins is renowned for his pictures of outdoor activities and portraits of intense, brooding figures—many of whom were his friends and acquaintances—pictured in darkened interiors. Influenced by the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge, Eakins was fascinated by the male physique, often unabashedly photographing his models in full nudity while boxing or wrestling. Viewing photographs as discrete works of art on paper, Eakins not only changed the status of photography as an art form but also introduced the camera as a tool in the American art studio.